Chapter 9 - a

Izuku took a long sip from his drink, sighing as he savored the taste. He tilted his head back, basking in the heat of the sunlight and enjoying the smell of food in the air.

"It's been far too long since we've done this." He said, straightening back up after a few moments.

"Indeed it has." Yagi responded, holding his own drink. "Not that it could really be helped, with most of our time being taken up by our responsibilities to Yueii."

He took a sip from his drink. "Now that Yueii has let out for the Summer though, we'll have much more time for this."

"Maybe not for long though." Tamako commented. "Depending on how tomorrow goes."

The corner of Izuku's mouth upturned at their words. 'We shall see.'

"Ah, that reminds me." Yagi continued. "I had a question regarding your quirk, if you're comfortable discussing it here."

Izuku tilted his head, thinking. He was a bit apprehensive to discuss it out in public as they were, but they were alone. Excluding the occasional car driving down the road next to them, and the person walking along the sidewalk a few hundred feet away—who Izuku confirmed with a quick use of 'Appraisal' didn't have a quirk that would allow them to know what he and Yagi said—the only person nearby was the woman who owned the café they were currently at, who was currently inside, busying herself with tidying up the kitchen. He also didn't see any listening devices or cameras, though that wasn't necessarily a guarantee. Even though he could devote multiple peoples' worth of focus to scanning his surroundings with 'All Sight,' it wouldn't do to consider himself infallible.

"Hm. I wouldn't mind discussing it here, but first, can I see your phone for a moment?"

"Oh, uh, sure?" Yagi said, pulling his phone out of his pocket and holding it out. "What for?"

Izuku reached out to take it, pulling his own phone out at the same time. With a quick activation of 'Hotbar,' both vanished from sight.

"This is definitely just a result of my paranoia, but…"

Pulling on another quirk, Izuku rubbed his hands together, causing sparks to jump from them. After a few seconds, he separated them a few inches, and the air around him and Yagi seemed to pulse. The lights in the building they were sitting in front of flickered. He held his hands in place, a faint tingling sensation dancing through them and into his arms.

Seeing the confusion in Yagi's expression, Izuku explained.

"Low-power, continuous electromagnetic pulses." He said. "Not enough to permanently damage anything, but it will ensure that nothing within about a hundred feet will work quite right while it's going. Nothing that would be able to listen to or record us will be able to. The only reason I put our phones away is because they were so close to the source."

"I see…" Yagi said, leaning a bit closer to look at Izuku's hands, which would occasionally spark. "I take it this is one of your quirks?"

Feeling a bit more comfortable now that the already–low possibility of anyone listening had been reduced even further, Izuku smirked.

"Indeed it is. Number eighty–three. Very creatively named 'EMP.'"

"Fascinating… May I ask where, or who, you got it from?"

Izuku's smirk fell. "No you may not. I'm willing to talk about my quirk, but that is one question that I will not answer."

Yagi nodded. "Of course. I'll stick to what I originally intended to ask then."

He straightened back up. "When we fought, it felt as though the hits I landed were barely doing anything. Now, it's one thing when someone of a similar strength directly opposes it, as you did a number of times, but with my first hit for instance, you barely moved at all, when based on past experience it should've been enough to send you flying. Do you have a quirk that would've caused that?"

Izuku nodded. "I do. Granted there are a few things that could be taken into account for the fight as a whole. Like you said, I'm able to exert an amount of power that is comparable to you. But in addition to that, my weight is measured in thousands of pounds, especially during the fight, since every non–visible part of me was titanium," he looked down to his hands as he spoke, drawing Yagi's attention to where the flesh of his fingers was slowly becoming shiny and metallic, "and I have a few quirks that increase the general durability of my body. Not to mention the fact that I have three separate regeneration quirks that heal damage to my body almost instantly. But the biggest reason is that I have a quirk that I call 'Shock Absorption.' As the name would imply, it absorbs kinetic energy that is applied to my body and cancels it out to rather significant degree."

"Actually," he continued, "I believe it's one that I've already told you about, though maybe not in detail. When I first revealed my quirk to you, I told you of the quirks I had taken from the Noumu at the USJ. This 'Shock Absorption' was one of them."

"Ah, yes. I think I remember that." Yagi said, looking up from Izuku's hands. "So then the reason why it felt like I was hardly doing anything to you, is because I actually wasn't."

Izuku nodded, his hands returning to normal, though still occasionally sparking and crackling.

"Indeed. At least at first. There are limits to how much force it can absorb at once. It can handle a handful of punches from you within the span of a few seconds, but repeated hits will eventually begin to overwhelm it more and more until it has a chance to 'reset' so to speak. Though it still greatly reduced the amount of force behind your hits, and pretty much anything less than you wouldn't be able to do much of anything."

"Amazing… You could get hit by a speeding vehicle and feel nothing."

"Oh, you've no idea just how useful this quirk is." Izuku said, smirking. "I've tested it, I can drop from the top of a skyscraper and feel nothing but a slight rush of absorbed energy, buzzing through my legs."

Yagi leaned back in his chair, a slightly incredulous look on his face.

"You know, I've never considered just how useful it would be to have a quirk such as yours. So many normal quirks already hold the potential to be so very useful on their own, so, the question of how they're obtained aside, to have the ability to make use of so many is an astounding concept. Your potential is practically limitless, and not just when it comes to fighting, but with anything that would be achievable with a quirk."

A small smile found its way onto Izuku's face. Ah, there was that warm feeling in his chest that seemed to show up whenever he found someone enjoying the idea of his quirk.

"It's amazing just how varied quirks tend to be." Izuku said, smiling down at his hands. "I myself have a decent variety, from interesting mutations like an avian head, canine head, and more than one horn quirk, to one that lets me produce an extremely sweet liquid from my fingers and another that allows me to handle molten metal with my bare hands. And that doesn't even come close to the variety I've seen in my analysis work. I've seen hundreds of thousands of quirks, ranging from mundane physical enhancers to those which, even in the context of superpowers, belong in the realm of science–fiction."

"I've seen a few like that over the years." Yagi remarked. "There are so many quirks that aren't necessarily 'heroic' that seem beyond explanation."

"It's too bad that most of society's focus is on quirks involved with heroics, on those which are most useful for fighting. I mean sure, my 'Shock Absorption' is powerful and the concept is mildly interesting, and on its own would already rank among some of the more powerful hero quirks, but I also have a quirk that has the ability to change an objects color by directly altering how it absorbs and reflects light. That's infinitely more interesting than the ability to absorb kinetic energy. And again, that's only looking at ones that I have. There are so many more out there in the world."

"Take sapient quirks, for example. Sentient and sapient quirks create an entire new consciousness, and that's in addition to whatever other effects it might have. I would consider that to be more interesting than just about every hero quirk out there. Creating a whole new consciousness is far more interesting than being able to create and manipulate fire or punch something really hard, or even quirks like Ectoplasm's."

Izuku felt Tamako's pleasure and contentment at his words, practically glowing at the praise. He trailed a mental hand through the bundle of quirks in his chest, finding the one linked to them. A contented hum filled Izuku's mind at the perceived contact, bringing a smile to his face as Tamako's happiness made it through the link between them.

"Sapient quirks are those like Young Tokoyami's, correct?" Yagi asked. Then, when Izuku nodded, "I certainly agree with you on that. I haven't seen very many of them, but they've all fascinated me. I once met a well–renowned creator of hero support equipment in Spain who had a sapient quirk. It was an exact copy of them, right down to how they spoke and acted."

Izuku thought he might know who Yagi was speaking of. Not by name, but he'd had an analysis request come through just over seven years ago for a quirk that matched the description.

"I have one." Izuku remarked. "You could meet them if you'd like."

Yagi looked around, for anyone that might be nearby. "You don't mean here, do you? I know we're discussing your quirk, but it might be suspicious if someone appears-."

Yagi's words cut off before he could finish voicing his concern, and before Izuku could even ask Tamako if they wanted to introduce themself. They had jumped right over to Yagi unprompted.

Izuku watched with a smile on his face as Yagi's eyes went a bit unfocused, staring off into the distance as he was no doubt distracted by a conversation going on in his head.

After a minute, Yagi shook his head, with Tamako returning to Izuku's at the same time.

"I like him." They said. "He's nice."

'He is.' Izuku agreed.

"Incredible." Yagi remarked. "Such an interesting way of speaking, using my own voice. Thank you, Etsumi, for allowing me to meet them."

"You're welcome."

"Though, if you don't mind me asking, how do you handle having them in your head all the time? When they spoke, their voice seemed to occupy my entire mind. Surely they aren't just silent all the time?"

"Not at all." Izuku responded. "In fact, they tend to speak to me more than I speak to other people. And naturally, the answer to your question is that I have another quirk to make things easier."

He leaned a bit closer, setting his hands on the table, still held apart and sparking.

"One of my quirks, which I've named 'Parallel Mind', changes my brain in such a way that my mind is almost layered. It allows for neurons to send multiple signals simultaneously. Put a bit simpler, where most people can generally only carry on one coherent line of thought at a time, I can carry on multiple simultaneously. It's like having several minds in my head, all able to think independently. I simply have Tamako inhabit one of these layered minds, which means that we can think and speak separately from each other, and that I can separate the two of us a bit so that we aren't privy to every single thought the other has."

"That's-. That's amazing!" Yagi exclaimed, keeping his voice down. "So then, does that mean that you can multitask? If you're able to think about more than one thing at a time, does that mean you can focus on more than one thing as well?"

"You're exactly right." Izuku answered. "Most of the time I make use of that ability in conjunction with a particularly powerful sensory quirk to keep an eye on my surroundings. If I were to get my hands on a telekinesis quirk, I would be able to do far more at one time than what having just two arms allows for."

"Amazing…" Yagi said. "As I said. Infinite potential. You've only just entered the prime of your life and you're already so powerful and widely skilled. I don't know if it's due to a quirk or not, but… He has been alive for well over a century by now. Imagine the heights you could reach if you were to live that long."

Izuku smiled again. The idea of living an extended life like that hadn't crossed his mind before. He wasn't sure if it was one he wanted to dedicate much thought to, either, lest he get too excited and actively start hunting down a quirk that would allow for it.

"It is quite fun sometimes, having this quirk. It hasn't always been, but I do greatly enjoy the ability to hold other quirks and increase my own potential with them."

"Now, did you have any other questions for me? My fingers are beginning to go numb."

"Ah! No, that was it. I was just curious about that one thing."

Izuku nodded, before pulling 'EMP' back into his chest, abruptly cutting off the slight distortions in the air around him, and the flickering of the lights that they caused. He clenched his hands, working his fingers around to dispel the numbness that had started to creep into them.

With a quick activation of 'Hotbar,' his and Yagi's phones appeared back in his hands. He returned Yagi's to him. The two of them then lapsed into silence with the break in conversation. Izuku took the chance to savor the atmosphere as he sipped away at his drink.

"There was something else I wished to discuss with you." Yagi spoke up after a minute. "Though, not about your quirk."

"And what might that be?"

"I've recently received two invitations to the I-Expo, taking place at I-Island, and I plan to attend it. I was wondering if you would like to go as well."

"Ah right, that is coming up soon, isn't it?" Izuku remarked. "I'd almost forgotten."

He paused for a moment to navigate through his phone to his email inbox.

"Not to take anything away from your offer, which I do appreciate by the way," Izuku held his phone out to Yagi to show the email he had been sent, inviting him to the same event, "but I've been sent an invitation as well."

"I see. I'm guessing it's due to you being Deku?" Yagi asked.

Izuku nodded. "Yep. They send me two invitations every year. I've yet to actually attend though, partly to keep my identity a secret and partly because Rei is not fond of airplanes, and I haven't seen much reason to go without her. So I usually just pass my invitations along to Nezu, though I'm not sure if he's gone himself or not."

With I-Island essentially being the quirk science capital of the world, there were, obviously, a significant number of scientists dealing with every aspect of the subject. The primary focus, and the most widely known piece, was the research and development of support equipment for both heroes and civilians, but the artificial island housed so much more than just that. If a branch of scientific study could be applied in any way to the study of quirks, then it had a place on I-Island. Everything from geneticists studying the combination and evolution of quirks through bloodlines to whole teams formed by a host of different branch specialists dedicated to explaining how quirks functioned and how those functions could be achieved by a human body.

Izuku had been invited to attend the annual I-Expo by virtue of his analysis work alone. Part of him suspected though that the real reason was so that his identity could be revealed, as he'd heard rumors—nothing concrete of course, all from second or third–hand sources—that if his identity were publicly known, he may be offered an official place on the island to pursue his analysis in a more focused manner. He'd yet to pursue the rumors any further though, and likely wouldn't any time in the foreseeable future, because he was content right where he was, and because accepting a place there would mean that he couldn't become a hero or pursue his vigilante work. Not to mention the fact that Rei didn't like airplanes—it wasn't the height, otherwise they wouldn't be living on the top floor of their building, it was just something about the plane itself. Even she couldn't fully explain it—and he wasn't about to move anywhere if Rei wouldn't be there with him.

"Although…" Izuku continued, tilting his head. "If you'd be willing, I might have an idea. Rei most likely still won't want to go, but Ochako might. I could always give my invitations to her and Tsuyu to use, and use your second invitation myself. Or some combination therein that allows all four of us to go."

I-Island's I-Expo consisted of two parts. The first, which was the primary purpose of the event, while also the one least known by the public, was the gathering of scientific minds from across the world for what was probably the greatest instance of multi-national collaboration in history. Thousands of scientists and researchers come together to both share knowledge and conduct research free from any jurisdiction aside from I-Island's own. The second part, which was the much more well-known of the two, preempted the first. It consisted of an even more massive gathering of people. Vendors, businesses, entertainers, scientific expos—both associated with I-Island's own researchers and not—and anyone else looking to profit and who could afford a space at the Expo all gathered for the event. It was a weeklong festival leading up to the main event and served to provide a talent pool to observe, in the form of the scientific expos that weren't associated with I-Island, provide free advertising of support equipment to all of the heroes that were invited to attend, and bring entertainment to the countless scientists and their families that lived on the island. There was also the money they got from allowing the hordes of vendors and even greater hordes of tourists to gather, but it likely paled in comparison to the funding received from the numerous multinational hero support companies based on the artificial island.

The weeklong festival would conclude with a massive reception party available only to specially invited guests, giving heads of support companies and other important guests a chance to meet with the invited heroes and other guests.

From what Izuku had seen in the past, the festival portion of the I-Expo was supposed to be fairly impressive, and quite enjoyable. Ochako would probably want to go if he made the offer, and assuming she didn't bring it up herself, she would probably also want Tsuyu to go as well when he mentioned it. Going to the I-Expo would serve as a decent vacation before the supposed 'summer camp retreat' held by Yueii.

"That sounds like a great idea!" Yagi said. "And however you wish to make use of the invitations is fine by me. I was going to go regardless of your answer, so I can visit an old friend, and I hadn't planned on offering it to anyone else."

"Excellent." Izuku said with a smile, pushing past the slight happiness he felt upon hearing that Yagi had apparently only considered inviting him. "I'll still have to ask Ochako and Tsuyu if they want to go, and I can't actually guarantee my own attendance just yet, as I have something coming up that may very well occupy most, if not all of my time, but assuming everything works out it'll be the four of us going together."

Izuku could almost guarantee that Ochako and Tsuyu would want to go, so that wasn't an issue, but he and Rei had scheduled to make a trip out to the Central Musutafu Orphanage tomorrow, and assuming all went well, there would be a new member added to their family. Something that could be extensively prepared for, but which was difficult to factor into plans. The only reason he didn't immediately dismiss the idea of going to I-Island in favor of staying at home with Rei and—hopefully—Iona was because he found the prospect of going with Yagi, Ochako, and Tsuyu enjoyable, and because depending on the time of day, he could return to the apartment from I-Island almost instantly.

It was something that he would have to discuss with Rei and Ochako once he got home. The possible presence of Iona and the tasks and responsibilities that would bring aside, there were a number of things that would need to be done before leaving for I-Island, which would take place in just over a week. He and Ochako would have to ensure that they were prepared for both the trip to I-Island—the beginnings of an idea were already starting to form under the focus of one of Izuku's parallel minds, with Tamako already observing. An idea that would require quite the expenditure to acquire close to an entire wardrobe's worth of clothes and some experimentation with a few of his quirks—and Yueii's summer camp, and he would need to plan and prepare for his absence. He would have to ensure that everything would be set for Rei and Iona while he's gone, and he would have to put a bit more effort into his vigilante work to make up for the break.

"Sounds like a plan!" Yagi said with a smile. "But, it sounds like whatever you have planned is quite important. May I ask what it is?"

Izuku smirked. "You're certainly not wrong. It's something that I've been planning for and working towards for some time now. Should everything work out as I hope it will, then I'll tell you all about it the next time we meet."

Reaching for his drink, he took one final sip. "Speaking of, now that we've finished eating, I might as well return home so I can go ahead and ask Ochako about I-Island."

"Of course!" Yagi said. Then, "It was nice to have lunch together again. We'll have to make sure to do this again soon."

"Definitely." Izuku agreed, before turning away.

"I suspect I'll have an answer for you by the end of the day as to whether or not Ochako will be going to I-Island. I'll let you know about myself and Tsuyu as soon as I know.

With that, he spread his wings, before launching himself into the air.

As Izuku had suspected, Ochako was thrilled about the idea of going to I-Island, and as soon as he'd mentioned his and Yagi's loose plan of making use of all four invitations, she'd asked about Tsuyu, not even giving him a chance to do so himself. When he confirmed that Tsuyu could indeed come along if she wanted to, Ochako rushed off to call her, leaving Izuku and Rei alone in the living room.

Izuku turned to look at her next to him, seeing her smiling in the direction that Ochako ran off.

"I didn't give Yagi a definite answer as to my own attendance." He said, drawing her attention. "Just in case tomorrow goes the way we want it to, I didn't want to promise away a week or more of my time that may be better spent here, especially not without discussing it with you first, and especially with Yueii's summer camp also coming up soon."

Rei looked at him for a moment, thinking, before her smile softened. "If you want to go, then you should. You know you'd enjoy it, and Ochako would love it if you went."

Izuku returned her smile. Rei was a saint. Though, it wasn't as if that was news to him.

"My concern wasn't so much about whether or not I want to go, but about the fact that I'd be leaving you here to watch Iona by yourself. This is something that we've been planning and preparing for-for some time now. To almost immediately dump all the responsibility on you on account of something so short-notice doesn't seem fair at all."

"I appreciate your concern, but I should be fine. Remember,"—she smirked at him—"it won't be the first time I've had to take care of someone her age. And compared to back then, I think it ought to be much easier now."

She gestured at the apartment around them as she spoke.

Izuku huffed out a small laugh. "Fair point."

"Besides," she continued, "didn't you say that Shadow's quirk lets you reach about halfway across the planet?"

Izuku nodded, smirking at the fact that she was having the same thought that he had. "Yep. Assuming it's night wherever I am and wherever I want to go, and so long as I meet the other requirements."

"There you go. Just come back if it turns out that you need to."

"If it makes you feel better though," she interrupted before he could respond, "just hold off on giving All Might your answer for a few days. Wait to see how everything feels before deciding."

"Alright." Izuku responded after a moment. "I'll do that then."

Rei smiled at him, before coming closer to lean against him, pressing their sides together. He tilted his head to rest on top of hers just as Ochako re-emerged from her room, with an excited expression that told Izuku that Tsuyu would be going to I-Island.

The sun was out and shining, with just enough clouds in the sky to provide occasional shade. The temperature was perfect—Izuku had deactivated his temperature resistance quirk so he could feel the heat of the sidewalk on his tail—and they were close enough to the coast that Izuku could just barely smell the ocean.

All in all, today seemed just about perfect. An ideal day for what Izuku and Rei had planned.

Izuku might've used 'Tempest' early in the morning to help make it that way, but no one needed to know that.

Today was the day. The day Izuku and Rei had scheduled to visit the Central Musutafu Orphanage.

This was the closest to nervous Izuku had been about something non-threatening to either his life or his identity in quite some time.

Thankfully, the orphanage wasn't located too far away from the apartment. The two of them were able to travel by foot—by tail—so as to be able to enjoy the nice day, with only a short train ride being necessary to ensure that they could both avoid leaving the apartment extremely early and be on-time for their morning appointment.

Their destination was easily recognizable as they approached. Aside from the fact that the two of them wouldn't have gone this long without knowing exactly where it was and what it looked like, Izuku had also visited the location before, partly to find out if Iona was still there, but also to make sure he wouldn't have to take a look as Oni. He'd passed by not long after he first had the thought to help Iona.

On the outside, the building had a very pleasant appearance. The red brick building was very tidy, and had a small plot of land dressed to match, most of it hidden by a tall, equally red brick wall. It put most of the surrounding area—which was already fairly decent, Central Musutafu was likely the best part of the city—to shame.

Even with its outer appearance being as nice as it was, Izuku had still passed by for a closer look or two at the inside, just to make sure it matched the outer appearance. It wasn't as if it was likely that anything outright illegal would be taking place inside, not in this part of the city, and certainly not with the stranglehold Oni had on Musutafu's underground, but all the same. Izuku had heard certain horror stories about orphanages before, and didn't much like the idea of Iona being a part of them.

Thankfully though, based on what he'd seen on not one, but two separate trips out to look, there was nothing of the sort taking place there. The inside of the building was just as pleasant as the outside, and as far as he could see—while doing his best not to invade anyone's privacy, he would save that for if it became necessary to do so as Oni—there was nothing to worry about. All of the children, including Iona, seemed happy enough—as happy as Izuku suspected they could be in an orphanage—and none of the staff and caretakers gave off any bad feelings, which was later confirmed by Rei once Izuku returned home with all of their names for thorough background checks.

Because of how thoroughly the two of them had looked into the orphanage, and because of what they were there to do, Izuku and Rei were able to approach the building with light consciences and cheerful, if focused, mindsets.

The gate that sealed away the enclosed yard opened almost as soon as they stopped in front of it. Izuku could see a woman—whom he knew to be one En Kotake from his earlier visits—sitting at a desk in the building's front room, watching a few small screens. He couldn't see what the screens were displaying, but there was a button located directly in front of them that conveniently had a label with the words 'Front Gate.'

Moving through the now–open gate, the two of them made towards the front door. When they reached it, it didn't open on its own like the gate, but as Izuku reached for the handle, he saw Kotake push another button at her desk and heard a faint buzzer and a click within the door, before he pulled it open.

"Good morning!" Kotake greeted cheerfully, a smile lighting up her face.

"Good morning." Izuku responded, returning the smile. "Izuku and Reiko Etsumi, here to see Miss Kimura?"

"Yep! She's been informed. She'll be with you shortly."

Almost as soon as she said that, the woman in question appeared through a set of doors off to Izuku's right. She was relatively tall, standing at about the same height as Eraserhead, with slightly tanned skin and curly, light pink hair, not dissimilar to Ashido's.

Masami Kimura. Thirty-seven years old, unmarried, and adoptive mother to a thirteen-year-old boy. She was the head of the orphanage, and had been for close to a decade. Her quirk was named 'Lie Detector,' and was a more limited version of Tsukauchi's quirk. Hers only worked with direct yes or no questions. As with everything else, Izuku and Rei had made plans regarding the quirk.

Kimura approached the two of them with a warm smile on her face. "Good morning! The Etsumis, I presume?"

"Yep! That's us." Rei responded, reaching out to shake the woman's hand.

"Excellent! If you'd please follow me, we'll go ahead and get started."

Turning away, Kimura led them towards the door she just emerged from, and down a hallway towards an office that Izuku assumed was hers, based on the nameplate sitting on the desk that said as much.

A few short moments later, they entered the office and were settled around said desk.

"Alrighty then." Kimura started. "I'll try to keep this somewhat brief, so we can move on to the good part. I've been updated on everything you submitted and went through to be certified as foster guardians, and I'm friends with Inai, the social worker who interviewed you in your home. I trust his judgement. In addition to that, the double and triple checks I had done on your background checks through two separate sources both came back identically clean, not to mention the personal references from both Nezu and All Might. All that remains is for me to ask you some questions myself, if you don't mind. I have a lie detection quirk, and I find that it's ever so helpful during these interviews."

"Of course." Izuku said. "Ask away."

Kimura nodded, then suddenly her expression hardened, becoming a great deal more serious in the space of a heartbeat.

"First thing's first. My quirk relies on yes or no responses from those I use it on. If you answer dishonestly, I will know. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Izuku responded, with Rei mirroring him a moment later.

Kimura stared at them both intently for a moment before continuing. "I have Inai's notes on your responses to all of his questions. To the best of your knowledge, was everything you told him true?"

"Yes." The two of them responded almost immediately, with Izuku's answer coming just a touch faster.

In their planning upon learning that Kimura had a lie detector quirk, that was one of the potential questions they considered. Luckily, everything they said during that interview was close enough to the truth. Between a good deal of their answers actually being true and most everything else being vague enough to register as true, they shouldn't have any issue. The closest thing to a lie either of them told was some of Rei's wording implying that Izuku had been with her from the start, before she ran away from home. Izuku doubted that-that would trigger Kimura's quirk, but even if Rei got caught with that one, it had an easy fix. Izuku would simply have to tell the truth about how he ended up on the streets, and say that he'd simply been uncomfortable sharing that with Inai, which wasn't a lie by any means.

Izuku's slight—very slight—worry was dispelled a second later though as Kimura nodded.

"Thank you. Next question. During the four-year gap that comes up in your background checks, that Inai informed you of and inquired about, did you knowingly engage in any criminal activity?"

"No." They answered.

That was an easy one. That was before Izuku had even begun going out as Oni. He'd wandered about in order to lure criminals into attacking a seemingly defenseless child, but he considered everything that occurred after they took the bait as self-defense. And lie detectors typically had a fatal flaw in that so long as the target believed they were telling the truth, then what they said registered as such, and Izuku believed that he'd done nothing wrong during those years.

Kimura nodded again. "Did you knowingly associate with any criminals, or any criminal groups or organizations?"

"No." They repeated.

Kimura nodded for a third time. "Very good. Moving on. If you end up adopting a child, do you have any intention whatsoever of harming, abusing, or otherwise neglecting said child?"

"No."

"Do you have any intention whatsoever of involving said child in any form of illegal activity?"

"No."

"Do you have any intention whatsoever of involving said child in anything that might cause them any form of harm, be it physical, mental, or emotional harm?"

"No."

"Do you intend to do anything other than raise said child to the best of your ability?"

"No."

"Will you raise said child to the best of your ability?"

"Yes."

"Will you provide food, clothing, shelter, and everything else necessary for the child's healthy life?"

"Yes."

"Can you provide food, clothing, shelter, and everything else necessary for the child's healthy life?"

"Yes."

"Will you do everything in your power to protect said child from harm, be it physical, mental, or emotional harm?"

"Yes."

"Will you love and care for said child?"

"Yes."

"Very good." Kimura said. "Just two more questions. First, to the extent of your knowledge, have all of your answers to my questions been truthful?"

"Yes."

"To the extent of your knowledge, have you made any attempts to deceive me or otherwise subvert my quirk?"

Izuku forced himself not to react. What a truly masterful stroke. This was someone who knew how to use a lie detector quirk. Even if someone was smart enough to circumvent her quirk, she knew how to cover up that weakness. It was brilliant. And it immediately made Izuku realize that he'd underestimated her.

He focused even harder on keeping himself from smiling, it was ever so rare that he met someone who was capable of such a thing.

Looking at her now, Izuku could see the intelligence that sat behind her eyes. She'd covered it up well with her warm countenance—or maybe simply allowed it to be covered up, as nothing about her warm and friendly attitude seemed fake in any way—but behind that was someone who was fiercely intelligent, and even more fiercely protective of the children in her care.

Hopefully, Izuku believing that he'd not engaged in any criminal activity when he was younger, and him actively knowing that such a thing was a weakness of truth quirks would not cause him to trigger her quirk. Just to be safe, he forced that thought to clear from his mind and focused entirely on the belief that he'd done nothing wrong, hoping—without actively thinking about it—to circumvent her attempt to derail any circumvention.

"No."

Kimura stared at the two of them for a moment, eyes darting between them, before nodding.

And just like a switch being flipped, her face lit back up, and all of her seriousness vanished behind a warm smile.

"Sorry for going all serious there." She said. "I have to ask those questions any time someone comes here looking to adopt. The safety and wellbeing of the children here is my top priority. And people are less likely to lie if I'm a bit more serious."

Izuku suspected that there was more to it than just that, but it was no longer of any concern.

"Not a problem." Izuku said. "It's nice to see that you're so invested in this. I've heard horror stories surrounding orphanages and the foster system in general, so this is reassuring."

"Oh, absolutely. I've heard the same stories. In fact, that's one of the reasons I take my job so seriously, to make sure this orphanage is set apart."

She smiled. "But enough about that. Let's move onto something more pleasant."

Reaching into a drawer, she pulled out a binder and set it in front of Izuku and Rei, opening it to reveal a page with a picture of a child, and information relating to them.

"We currently house forty-seven children here, ranging from three to fourteen years old. This binder contains information on all of them, including both an overview from their primary caretaker and a short letter from the child, provided that they know how to read and write and that they wanted to write one. If you'd like, you can take a look through here to see if any catch your eye, or if you'd rather, I can take you around to meet some of the children face-to-face, though not all of our children are here at the moment."

Reaching out, Izuku picked up the stack of papers within the binder and started flipping through them. From someone else's perspective it probably looked like he was doing it absently, but he stopped it right on the page dedicated to Iona, which he'd noticed in the stack the moment Kimura had reached for the binder.

In the picture, she didn't look much different from when he'd last seen her. Light purple hair, like lavender, and eyes that were a very deep royal purple. Ever so slightly tanned skin, with a handful of freckles decorating her cheeks and the bridge of her nose, which he hadn't noticed before.

She looked cleaner than she had before, likely because she'd been briefly kidnapped and then chased through an alleyway. And the fact that her face held a small smile instead of a look of terror was an added bonus.

Next to the picture was a bit of information, some of which Izuku already knew from he and Rei looking into her.

Name: Iona Kateyama

Age: Four years old

Birthday: March 28, 2157

Height: 3' 1"

Weight: 30lbs 

Quirk: Imaginary Friend

Quirk Description: 'Imaginary Friend' seems to have mutated Iona's brain to create a separate consciousness (This is purely speculation at the moment. There are a number of ways for a sentient/sapient quirk to exist separately from the user's mind yet inhabit the same brain, this is merely my current theory based on the available information. I have scheduled a date with Iona's parents for her to undergo both CT and fMRI scans to further explore this). This new consciousness seems to be sentient, if not fully sapient and, according to Iona, is capable of communicating with her using both coherent (mental) speech and emotional impressions. In addition, this consciousness can also, both at its own desire and Iona's, manifest a physical form for itself. This physical form is invisible (to the naked eye) to everyone but Iona herself. Iona describes this physical form as being about a foot taller than herself (she was shown a wall marked with measurements and asked to point out how tall it was), and being mostly humanoid in appearance (she described it as standing on two legs, and with arms that look 'really long', leading me to believe that its body may be closer in appearance to an ape than a human). She also described it as having the head of a dog, and being covered in long, brown fur.

This extra consciousness, which Iona has taken to calling 'Kemono' is able to use its manifested body to affect the world. It seems to have a strength roughly equivalent to an adult male, and is able to pick up and hold Iona. This manifested body still has mass and weight (with a weight that is disproportionate to its size, weighing more than twice what Iona does, despite only being approximately a foot taller). It can be touched by others, produces a noticeable heat, and can produce sound through its actions (though seemingly not directly. It can produce sound by hitting or moving objects, but it does not seem capable of producing any noise from its own body).

It is unknown at this time whether or not 'Kemono' will grow in size and strength alongside Iona. It is possible that this will be the case, and that with time it might be able to eventually produce sound on its own or even potentially speak.

**Note: Upon viewing the results of the CT and fMRI scans, I can confirm that Iona's brain has indeed been mutated by her quirk. Not only that, but looking at the images I've received, I would be willing to say that her quirk, "Kemono", has the potential to achieve a level of intelligence equivalent to a human. 

The structure of her brain is almost entirely unique. That word doesn't hold very much weight with the existence of quirks, what with nearly everyone having some form of mutation present in their brain to allow for the function of their quirk, but where most everyone else might have a single, tiny new area present, or have a preexisting area slightly mutated, Iona's brain is truly unique in its structure. This shouldn't be a cause for concern. As far as we (myself and the doctors who took the scans) can figure, she's not missing anything, nor is anything lacking or underdeveloped. Though I will say that the only reason I said 'as far as we can figure' is because not only is almost nothing in her brain is where we would expect it to be, she also has far more sections to her brain than we would expect. Almost twice as many which, given her quirk, makes sense. If our initial theory is correct, Iona essentially has two brains in her head, one for her and one for her quirk. 

Since her skull is of a normal size, this initially led us to believe that the sections to her brain (though we had a difficult time speculating which part belonged to which mind. She'll need to undergo additional scans if we want to have a chance of determining that) might be smaller than they ought to be and therefor that she might suffer because of it, but while they were indeed smaller, we noticed that the density of her braincells was beyond anything we've seen before. So not only will she most likely not suffer any detriments to her mental capacity, I would go so far as to say that she might even have a greater capacity for mental function than normal (non-mentally-enhanced) individuals.

I've recommended for Iona to undergo a full battery of brain scans (not only to fully study/understand the structure of her brain, but also to confirm whether or not anything is lacking or missing), should her and her parents be willing. If they choose to do so, I'll be contacting I-Islands Center for Neurological Quirk Study. If they're as interested in this as I am, and I suspect they would be, they'll likely offer to fly her and her parents to the island to have the scans done there. As far as I'm aware, they have scanning technology far more precise than most hospitals could dream of having.

Izuku read through it all in an instant. He'd already learned when her birthday was and what her quirk was called, but it was interesting to see a description of her quirk by, presumably, the doctor in charge of her appointment after it manifested.

The analyst in him felt a little giddy reading about the discovery her doctor had made regarding her brain. Not only were sapient quirks already incredibly fascinating, but this added in a whole new aspect to it. Based on what he was reading, not only was Iona's brain entirely unique—which was a hard thing to achieve in the world of quirks—but she also had the potential to be smarter than most other people.

Though, seeing the description, and thinking about who wrote it brought him back down. It reminded him that the Triad had to have learned about her from somewhere, and it was quite likely that-that somewhere was the doctors' office she'd gone to. A doctor, or doctors, handling initial quirk manifestations would be an excellent source of intel for a quirk trafficking group.

He filed that thought away for later, vowing to take a close look at her doctor, and committed the quirk description to memory, before moving on to the section below it. It looked like the overview of her that Kimura had mentioned, written by one of the people staffing the orphanage.

Iona Kateyama is a sweet, incredibly well-behaved child. She tends to be quiet and mild-mannered, and favors quieter, usually solitary activities, but will still occasionally join in with the more active games and activities if prompted by the other children. She particularly favors drawing and other forms of art, and when she interacts with the other children, it is most common to see her and the other child (or children) engaging in some kind of art. 

Iona generally seems to prefer being alone to being with other children, but if other children approach to interact with her, she does, without issue. She has even befriended a few of the children that are close to her age. When she does interact with the other children, she always seems to retain her kind, mild-mannered attitude. I've never once seen her act anywhere close to bossy or anything even approaching mean. I've also never seen her even involved in any argument or altercation with another child (such instances are relatively common among children and are always handled if they progress past a certain point, but more often than not we give the children a chance to work anything out amongst themselves before we get involved).

As with most other children, she enjoys heroes, and favors Miruko over most others. When asked, she'll most likely say that it's because of Miruko's "Fluffy ears" and the way she hops around like a bunny.

Going along with that (and possibly influencing who her favorite hero is), Iona adores small animals, as most children her age do. During a recent trip to a petting zoo, she was particularly fond of the bunnies they had.

She shows an aptitude for learning, with our in-house tutors (the majority of the children in our care attend public school, but in certain circumstances, such as a young-enough child coming under our care in the middle of their school year, where the change in location would mean a change in their location of learning, we have in-house tutors complete the remainder of their schooling for the year) noting that she is above average, especially in the subjects of reading and writing. When she isn't drawing, she enjoys reading with either myself or another staff member (or, in one instance, an older child in the orphanage). Iona is very rapidly approaching the point of being able to read and write entirely on her own.

Iona was orphaned earlier in the year, shortly after her fourth birthday, when a home invasion resulted in the death of her parents. According to what the police told us when she was first brought to us, she witnessed the tragedy. Understandably, this seems to have led to a slight predisposition towards sadness, and is believed to be part of the reason she prefers to be alone most of the time. For a few days after she was brought to us, she was (again, understandably) nearly inconsolable over the loss of her parents, and was prone to bouts of crying. Eventually though, she began to calm down as she started to process what had happened (she showed a truly remarkable level of maturity when our in-house psychologist explained to her the reality of what happened), that her parents were gone. We'll still occasionally find her crying, and are quick to comfort her, but it is becoming increasingly infrequent as time goes on.

Despite this, we always make sure (and I recommend that any potential adoptive parents also make sure) that she never goes too long on her own, alone with her thoughts. Despite her apparent emotional maturity, comfort goes a long way towards helping someone (especially someone of her age) recover.

(It should be noted, however, that a possibly more significant reason for her preference towards being alone is that she's never truly alone. Her sapient quirk ensures that she always has someone to talk to, and between that and the fact that it's her own quirk, she would generally rather be alone to talk to just her quirk than talk to other children.) 

In addition to that predisposition towards sadness, Iona also occasionally suffers from nightmares relating to the night she was orphaned. They aren't severe enough to cause much concern, nor do they happen too frequently, but when they do happen, she will seek out either myself or one of the other staff members, and we will take her back to her room and stay with her until she falls back to sleep. So far, there has not been an instance where she's woken back up after going back to sleep. However, a change in surroundings, as with a potential adoption, may cause a change in either the severity or frequency, if not both, so potential adoptive parents are advised to be prepared to assist her. Since she's come to us, we've discovered that if one of us stays with her as she falls asleep initially, especially if we do something to help her fall asleep, such as reading to her, she's less likely to have nightmares.

Iona also suffers from a slight, yet noticeable, anxiety when it's time for dinner (only during dinner. During breakfast and lunch, there's no discernible anxiety). The home invasion that took the lives of her parents took place as they were about to eat dinner. During her first few days here, Iona wasn't able to eat in the dining room, as she was too busy watching the doorways. It wasn't until we took her to another room that she was able to calm down enough to eat. Though after a few days, she was able to eat in the dining room with one of us helping her, then a few more days after that she was close enough to eating normally. She is currently able to eat normally, but we still see her keeping an eye on the doorways. As with the nightmares, it is possible that a change in surroundings may lead to a slight worsening of this anxiety.

Aside from those minor non-issues, Iona is a completely normal, healthy child, who behaves as a child her age ought to, if perhaps generally more well-behaved than others. Our in-house psychologist believes that the tragedy she experienced won't have any major impact on her development and growth, so long as she is provided with a necessary amount of love and care. She would be a blessing to any who might want to adopt her.

As with the information above it, Izuku instantly committed the overview to memory and put a few parallel minds to work contemplating the consequences of Iona witnessing her parents' murder that the overview noted, and how best to address them. He then moved on to the much shorter letter written in wobbly script that indicated—as Kimura had said—that Iona was the one to write it.

Hello,

My name is Iona Kateyama. I am four years old. My favorite color is purl purple (like my hair) and my favorite hero is Mik Mirko Miruko. She has really fluffy ears and a really fluffy tail and she hops all over the place and shes really strong! I really like to draw and paint (Miss Sueno says Im getting really good!) and I also really like to read. My quirk is called maj imaj imaginery friend and it made Kemono (my best friend). Kemono is bigger than me and a lot stronger. He has a face like a puppy and lots of really really soft fur. Nobody else can see him (i promic promise hes real) but he talks to me in my head.

Sometimes I get sad bek becaus my mommy and daddy got hurt by the bad peep people. Miss Sueno told me that theyr dead and that means theyr gone four forever. I dont like thinking about that becaus it makes me feel really sad and makes my tummy feel weer weird (I really really miss them a lot). Mr Sano says that its ok to feel sad tho. He says that I sholshould try to think happy tha thouh thoughts when it happens. I lisen to him and try (Kemono tries to help). When I get sad I try to think about Miruko and how her ears look really fluffy and how she always looks really strong even if she gets hurt. Sometimes it works.

I really like living here. All of the adults are really nice (spe espesh especially Miss Sueno) and so are the kids. Kado and Yui like to draw with me sometimes. Kados quirk lets him shoot really pretty lite lights from his fingers (like fire works) and Yuis quirk lets her move things with her mind.

Sinseer Sincerely,

Iona

Before Izuku even finished reading, he was already working out what exactly would have to be done to arrange a meeting between Iona and Miruko. Miruko seemed to be a bit of an adrenaline junkie like him, and had expressed an interest in fighting him when he'd dropped Ochako off at her office for the internship. Maybe he could make something happen with that? If he could manage to establish something that set him apart from the civilian masses, then she would be more receptive to his request. And even though Miruko tended to interact with fans a bit less than other major heroes, there wasn't a spotlight hero out there that would refuse to interact with a child fan.

Once again, Izuku committed everything he read to memory. Once he had—a full second after flipping to Iona's page—he looked back up at Kimura.

"I feel like it might be better to meet with the children face-to-face."

If he didn't have 'All Sight,' Izuku would've put on an act of looking through the binder with Rei, before ultimately landing on and expressing an interest in Iona, but he did have it, which meant that he'd been aware that Iona was in the building before he and Rei had even made it to the front gate. She was currently in what looked to be a living room, sitting alone—aside from a woman who Izuku assumed to be a caretaker, quietly reading—as the overview indicated, surrounded by a mess of paper and pencils. The living room was conveniently located quite close to Komura's office, and was likely to be the first stop when Komura would lead Izuku and Rei around.

"Of course!" Kimura said. "We usually recommend that potential adopters go that route. Actually interacting with a child face-to-face is likely to give you a better impression of them than reading about them."

She stood up, prompting Izuku and Rei to raise themselves back up from where they'd been settled. "Let's go introduce you to some of the children, see if we can't form any connections."

Walking around the desk, she led them back through the door they'd entered from, and into the hallway she'd led them down.

"Since most of our children have begun their Summer breaks, we've started to arrange little trips for them, which is why not all of them are here right now. Things like going to the zoo, or to the movies, or to the beach since it was cleaned up. Anything we can do to make their Summers a bit more fun and instill as much of a sense of normalcy as we can."

"You must have quite a bit of funding available to you if you're able to do so much for them, especially with so many children under your care." Rei said.

Kimura nodded as she walked. "We receive regular donations from Endeavor's hero agency. It's what allows us to maintain our facilities at the level they're at, and provide as much care as possible for the children. It occasionally gets a bit tight when we treat them to trips and other special events, but we want to do everything we can to make sure that they don't go through any more than they already have."

Izuku filed that away for later. Once he got home, he would make an anonymous donation to the orphanage. They clearly deserved it, and not only for the fact that they'd clearly been taking good care of Iona. It was obvious that Kimura, and the orphanage as a whole, cared deeply for the children in her care.

In fact, maybe Izuku would talk to Yagi about it, get him to make a donation as All Might. He knew that Might Tower had a net worth well into the billions, and that the hero agency regularly made significant donations to a number of organizations. Maybe he could convince Yagi to put a bit of focus into orphanages, assuming he wasn't already.

Kimura led Izuku and Rei through the hallway, and through the front lobby they had initially entered. As he had predicted, it looked as though their first destination would be the living room where Iona still sat. Now that they were getting closer, Izuku could hear faint music playing.

They entered the room a few moments later. The caretaker reading in the corner noticed them, setting her book down and standing to approach them. Iona remained where she was, laying on a huge, plush rug in the middle of the room, focusing steadfastly on her drawing.

"Hi!" The caretaker greeted, keeping her voice down. "I'm Anii Sueno. You must be the Etsumis."

"Yep!" Rei responded, lowering her voice to match. "Rei and Izuku."

"Sorry to intrude on your reading," Kimura said, "but I'm taking the Etsumis around to visit some of the children. Is it alright if we introduce them to Iona?"

"Of course! Come on in!"

Leaning a bit closer, she added, "If you want an easy way to get her to talk to you, start off by either asking her about what she's drawing or talking about Miruko."

With that, she turned around, walking over to Iona. Izuku and Rei followed behind her a moment later, with Kimura coming behind them.

"Iona." Sueno said, kneeling down next to her. "We have some guests here who would like to meet you."

Iona looked up from her drawing, first glancing at Rei, before meeting Izuku's eyes. Izuku smiled at her. It was nice to see her in person after so long, and that he was able to do so when she wasn't either terrified or completely devoid of emotion under the control of a quirk.

"This is Izuku and Rei Etsumi." Sueno introduced, pointing to both of them in turn. "They're brother and sister."

"H-Hello." She greeted, pushing herself up into a sitting position.

"Hello there." Izuku responded, lowering himself down closer to her level. "My name's Izuku. Whatcha working on there?"

Iona looked away from him, down at her drawing.

"I-It's a drawing." She answered. "Of a kit-, Kitsoo-."

"Kitsune." Sueno provided.

"Yeah. A kit-su-ne. This one isn't done yet though."

Twisting around, she grabbed one of the papers, before turning back and holding it up for him to see.

It took all of Izuku's focus—a truly considerable amount—to keep a neutral face and stop himself from reacting. Despite the fact that it was a crude child's drawing, it was obvious what it was.

It was a drawing of Oni. He could make out his red and black dress clothes, his mask—which made up his entire head instead of just partially covering his face. Likely the reason she called him a kitsune—his horns and wings. There was no one else it could be, unless Iona just happened to imagine up someone who looked just like him.

Izuku swallowed back a sudden lump in his throat, before speaking, forcing his voice to remain light.

"That's a very nice drawing. Is that someone you know?"

"Uh huh! He saved me from the bad people, just like a hero!"

Izuku tensed his entire body, struggling to keep from showing any outward reaction. He felt something warm in his chest, something that definitely wasn't his quirks.

Up until now, Izuku's primary motivation for adopting Iona was that he wanted to help. He was partly familiar with her and her situation, having saved her from the Triad and empathizing with her as he knew what it was like to grow up without parents. He'd also already dedicated himself to helping people in general, trying to stop situations such as hers before they had a chance to happen, but hers was the first situation he'd considered helping directly. He couldhelp, and wanted to, and so he would.

He had completely dedicated himself to that—and so had Rei for that matter—completely and utterly prepared to put the necessary time, effort, and resources into not only getting to the point where he could adopt her as soon as possible, but also ensuring that she had a good life once he had.

But now, in this moment, staring down at her drawing of his alter-ego, and past that at her face adorned with her big deep–purple eyes and small smile, and hearing her praise that vigilante alter-ego with her sweet, childish voice and call him a hero… He knew that he would do absolutely anything for her.

This too-precious child was too-sweet and too-adorable and she would definitely be going home with him and Rei, and he would do anything for her.

He vaguely noticed Tamako darting from his mind in Rei's direction, and a split second later she was nudging his shoulder.

"Well I'm very glad he did that." He finally said, voice just the slightest bit unsteady.

Rei joined in at that, rescuing him. She lowered herself down to the same level, leaning in to look at the picture.

"That looks really good, Iona. Do you think you could show me some of the other drawings you've made?"

As she took over, Izuku backed away slightly, taking a moment to compose himself.

As he tried to focus on anything other than Iona's—sweet, too–sweet—face, he noticed Kimura off to his side, a few feet away, smiling at him. She motioned for him to come closer, backing away from where Iona was rapidly becoming more animated in showing Rei her drawings. He followed.

"It's happened already, hasn't it?" She asked, once they'd returned to the doorway they'd entered through.

"What's that?" He responded, managing to force his voice back to normal.

"The connection." She gestured at nothing. "The… spark. The moment you looked at her and thought 'this is my child.'"

"I-." Izuku looked back towards Iona and Rei. Iona now had a huge smile adorning her face as she showed Rei her drawings. The warm feeling in his chest grew as he watched.

"I… think you might be right." He said.

Kimura's smile widened at that. "If you think you're ready, we can get started on filling out some paperwork. Either you or your sister are welcome to stay here with Iona while the other comes with me. I only need one of you at a time."

"I'll go ahead and get it started." Izuku answered, smiling at where Iona now had Rei working on a drawing with her.

"Excellent." She said, then raising her voice just a bit, she called out "Anii."

Sueno looked up from where she'd been watching Iona and Rei, having backed away a bit once they'd started interacting. Kimura nodded at her, and she must've understood, because her face split into a wide smile.

"Now, if you'll follow me back to my office, we can get started. There's quite a bit to get through."

Izuku turned to follow her, a smile on his face as he kept an eye on Iona and Rei, even as he and Kimura made it back to the office.

The process of going through and completing all of the necessary paperwork was a long one, made to feel even longer by Izuku's mounting feeling of excitement over being on the edge of finallycompleting what he'd set out to do. It wasn't often that he found himself feeling impatient, but he certainly had felt that sitting in Kimura's office.

Then, when he'd finished everything that he could, he and Kimura returned to the living room to find Iona draped across a piece of Rei's tail, the two of them completely surrounded by a mess of strewn papers, most of them covered in drawings. He and Rei switched places, and all of a sudden Iona was using his tail like a table, laying out all the drawings along its length, showing him everything that she and Rei had worked on.

Thankfully, Izuku managed to remain composed as she did that, and even when she asked him to draw with her—he'd decided to draw Miruko, much to Iona's delight. He'd never really done much drawing before aside from some idle attempts at sketching a few times when he'd found himself truly bored, but he must've done a good enough job, as she recognized the hero—though he very nearly lost that composure when he glanced at the paper she was focused on and saw that she was drawing a picture of him, recognizable by his tail and green hair. He'd had to—very subtly—break his own finger in order to contain himself, the short instant of slight pain before his healing quirks fixed it snapping him out of it long enough to force himself to calm down.

It was probably a good thing that Sueno had been sitting there watching the two of them draw—she'd already gone to pack up Iona's belongings while Izuku was working on paperwork, and spent the rest of the time simply sitting off to the side, watching Iona interact with Rei, and then Izuku, with a smile on her face—otherwise he might've ended up showing off one of his quirks as he drew. It was a very niche quirk that allowed him to perfectly reproduce images from memory onto surfaces such as paper. Though, even with her there, he came quite close to activating the quirk anyway. Part of him—a part deep in the background, one of his parallel minds that wasn't focused entirely on Iona—was shocked at how ready he was to completely disregard his greatest secret just to do something that might amuse her. Not to say that-that realization made him any less likely to do that. The only thing that stopped him was the fact that he would end up having to explain to her why he was able to do what he did, which not only was a conversation that he wanted to wait just a little bit to have, but was also something that would've interrupted the fun she was having drawing her pictures while lying across his tail like she'd been doing with Rei.

In the middle of all of this, Iona drawing picture after picture and Izuku doing the same, but dedicating most of his focus to either Iona or to keeping himself composed, part of him noticed her quirk manifest next to them. It popped into existence next to where Iona was laying on his tail, stood there staring at him for a moment, before disappearing before he could bring himself to really focus on it. It didn't appear again while they sat there drawing, waiting for Rei to return. It must've been satisfied with what it saw, assuming that was even its purpose for appearing at all.

Luckily—or maybe unluckily—Rei's turn with the paperwork took considerably less time, and it wasn't much longer after she'd wrapped everything up that they were all standing outside in the orphanage's front lawn. Izuku and Rei waited side by side on the front path, while Iona, Sueno, and Kimura stood by the front door, saying their goodbyes.

Sueno wrapped Iona in a tight hug, and Kimura knelt down and put a hand on her head, ruffling her hair. The two of them whispered their goodbyes to her. Izuku could hear, but purposefully ignored it, giving them their privacy.

A few moments later, the two women stood up, and Iona turned towards Izuku and Rei, eyes slightly tearful.

"Ready to go, Iona?" Rei asked, holding a hand out to her.

Iona nodded, walking forwards and taking it. Once she had, Rei turned towards the gate, and the street beyond it, guiding her along. Izuku lifted the suitcase holding most of Iona's belongings up onto his shoulder, the bag holding the rest already slung over the same shoulder. As they made their way towards the street, he saw Iona look over her shoulder at Kimura and Sueno, waving at them with her free hand, until they turned onto the sidewalk and the brick wall blocked her view.

The walk back to the apartment, and the short train ride in the middle, were uneventful. Izuku led the way, making use of a steady, continuous exertion of 'Conqueror' to… persuade… the pedestrians on the sidewalk to cross to the other side of the street. Nothing dangerous of course, just a gentle imposing of his will upon theirs to make sure his—and more importantly Rei and Iona's—path home was unhindered. The return trip was just a bit slower than the initial, on account of Iona not being able to quite keep up with Rei and Izuku's normal speed, at least until Iona started to get tired and Rei lifted her up onto her shoulders.

Eventually though, just past midday and at an almost perfect time for lunch, they made it back to their building. As they approached, Izuku could hear Rei whisper behind him, "Here we are. We live all the way at the top." Izuku paused just outside, almost right in front of the doors, looking up at the balcony connecting to their living room. A smile appeared on his face as he got an idea.

He looked back at Rei and Iona, both of whom were already looking at him, likely wondering why he'd stopped.

"Hey Iona." He said. "Have you ever flown before?"

He saw Rei's eyebrows raise, before she looked up towards the top of the building, at least as much as she could without tipping her head back too far and pushing Iona off her shoulders. She looked back down at him a moment later and he watched her expression, smiling a bit wider when she nodded, giving her approval.

Iona tilted her head at him. "No?" She answered, sounding confused.

Then her eyes flicked to Izuku's wings, and he watched them widen adorably as she gasped.

"Can you fly!?"

"Sure can." He answered, amused that she was just now realizing that. "Would you like me to give you a ride up to the apartment?"

She looked up, and her smile faltered a little bit as she must've registered how high up it was, but it returned full force a moment later as she looked back down at him. "Yeah!"

"I'm surprised she agreed." Tamako commented. "Maybe she isn't afraid of heights?"

'Or she hasn't yet had a chance to develop a fear of heights.' Izuku responded.

Lowering the suitcase from his shoulder and setting it on the ground, Izuku reached out towards Rei, who was already leaning towards him. He picked Iona up off of her shoulders, and maneuvered her around so that she was tucked against his chest, in a mirror of the night he first met her. Once she was in place, practically vibrating with excitement, Izuku reached down with his free hand to retrieve the suitcase, only to find that Rei had already grabbed it and lifted it up onto her own shoulder. She grinned at him, and he returned the gesture, moving his free arm to hold Iona more securely.

"I'll see you up there in a few minutes." She said.

Izuku nodded, then directed his attention to Iona, "I'm going to start flying. I've got you, and I won't let you fall. If you get scared just close your eyes and I'll let you know when we're done. Okay?"

She nodded, and Izuku spread his wings. He launched the two of them into the air as gently as he could manage. She went rigid almost immediately, holding a fistful of his shirt in a death grip in both hands, though her eyes were still open—wide open, like she was forcing herself to not close them—and she still had a smile on her face. Izuku gave her shoulder a small squeeze in response.

Even rising slower than normal in order to make the flight as steady as possible, it still barely even took a minute to reach the top floor. The entire time, Iona, still stiff as a board, kept her eyes open to look around. It wasn't until he was firmly settled on the balcony that the tension left her body.

'Could you go let Ochako know we're here?' He asked. She was currently in her room, and that was as much as he noticed before he pulled his focus away, wanting to respect her privacy.

"I'm on it." Tamako responded, before vanishing.

Izuku used one of his hands to gently work Iona's out of the death grips they were still in. Once she'd released his shirt, he lowered her to the floor. He lowered himself down to her level a moment later, settling a hand on top of her head.

"What do you think?" He asked. "Did you like flying?"

"Yeah!" She answered, "We were up so high! And everyone on the ground was so small! Do you get to fly a lot?"

Izuku smiled at her enthusiasm, and at the fact that she thought that was high—technically it was, especially for her, as she likely hadn't even been in a skyscraper before—he couldn't wait to take her properly flying one day, eventually. He'd flown at such heights in the past that allowed him to see the curvature of the Earth, and that had made it difficult for even him to breathe. And while he wouldn't be taking Iona up to those sorts of heights any time soon, if ever, there was a certain thrill in flying over the highest buildings in the city that he hoped to be able to share with her one day. Even the sort of casual flight that took him and Ochako to and from Yueii was exciting in its own right, and would certainly be to someone like Iona who had no experience with such things.

"Yep." He answered. "I get to fly whenever I want. And before Summer started, I was flying almost every day with Ochako to go to school."

Iona tilted her head at him. "Who's Ochako?"

"Ochako is my other sister. She lives here too. Would you like to meet her? She's really nice, and she has a quirk that can make you float."

"Okay." Iona said, nodding.

It was good timing, because just as she answered, Ochako made it to the door to the balcony, waiting on the other side to watch Izuku and Iona. Izuku motioned for her to come out, and she didn't waste any time in doing so.

"Hello there!" She greeted, crouching down a few feet away. "My name's Ochako. What's yours?"

"U-um. Iona." She answered. Then, glancing between Izuku—or more accurately, Izuku's tail—and Ochako, "Are you really brother and sister?"

"That's right! It's a little bit different from normal brothers and sisters though. We're not from the same family, but we decided to be family."

Iona tilted her head at that, likely not fully understanding. Izuku was about to add on to Ochako's explanation and hopefully clarify things, when he noticed Kemono appear out of thin air next to her, looking at Ochako.

He turned his head to look at the quirk, despite the fact that didn't need to. It noticed the movement, turning to look at him. It flinched back when it met his eyes, and almost immediately swung an arm at him. He caught the arm by the wrist, holding it steady, and found himself slightly surprised by the amount of strength it possessed.

"Easy, Kemono." He said, drawing Iona and Ochako's attention. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Iona gasped. "Kemono! Don't be mean! He's nice!"

The quirk vanished as quickly as it appeared, and suddenly Iona was looking up at Izuku with tears in her eyes.

"Did he hurt you? I'm sorry!"

For a brief instant, Izuku wasn't sure if he ought to be happy that she was showing concern—as it implied an understanding of not only what her quirk was capable of but also of right and wrong, even in the context of someone else's actions—concerned himself at the fact that she was upset, or if he should be worried that, even with them welling up with tears, he still found her too-big eyes to be absolutely adorable.

In the end he decided that a bit of both of the first two was good, and that he would leave the third bit for later consideration, and gave her a reassuring smile.

"It's alright." He said. I'm not hurt."

Iona just sniffed, still looking up at him. Then, a moment later, "Kemono says he's sorry too. He didn't mean to do it. He just got surprised when you looked at him."

"Well then there's nothing to worry about." Izuku said, reaching out ruffle her hair. "It was an accident, and he's sorry, so everything's okay."

Even if Kemono had somehow managed to hurt him, he still wouldn't have cared. At this point it would take more—far more—than bodily harm to bring him anywhere even remotely close to being upset.

"Everything's alright, and I'm not mad. Okay?"

Iona nodded. Then, barely a second later, she was tilting her head at him, tears and concern all but forgotten. "Wait. You can see Kemono? How come?"

"I have very special eyes." Izuku answered, not missing a beat. "They let me see lots of things."

He fully intended to tell her about his quirks at some point, but that would undoubtedly end up being a long explanation, and there were more important things to do right now.

"Say." He continued. "Would you like Ochako to show you your room while I make us some lunch? She helped Rei and I put it together."

And just like that, her confusion was forgotten.

"Yeah!" She answered excitedly, her face lighting up. She was practically bouncing.

Ochako went right along with it, holding her hand out.

"Come on! Let's go see it!"

Iona took her hand with no hesitation whatsoever, bringing a smile to Izuku's face, and the two of them all but ran inside, Ochako leading the way towards Iona's new bedroom.

His smile remained in place as he made his way inside and to the kitchen, beginning to gather everything he needed to make lunch.

Just as he finished setting everything out, Rei opened the front door, entering into the apartment. Izuku smiled at her, and she returned the expression.

"How'd it go?" She asked, setting Iona's suitcase down.

"It went well. She seemed to enjoy it."

Seeing her glance around the room, likely looking for Iona, he continued. "Ochako's already met her. She's currently showing Iona her room while I make lunch."

Rei hummed in response, moving over to Izuku. When she got close enough, she wrapped her arms around him, leaning against him, resting her chin on his shoulder.

"We finally did it." She said. "We finally adopted her."

Izuku tilted his head, letting it rest on top of hers. "Yes we did. And now it's up to us to make sure she gets the life she was meant to have."

He smiled as he watched Iona and Ochako interact. Ochako was currently using her quirk to make Iona float, holding her hands to make sure she didn't float too far away.

"I don't think that'll be much of a challenge though."

That afternoon was spent by Izuku, Rei, and Ochako doing everything they could to make sure Iona was happy and that she felt as welcome and comfortable in the apartment as possible.

Once Izuku had finished preparing lunch—after filling Rei in on everything that he'd read about Iona, and that she hadn't had a chance to—and had sent Tamako to retrieve them, Ochako led Iona out of her room, pulling her through the air as she giggled up a storm. They all ate, and then they settled in the living room to watch a movie, with Iona and Ochako laying together, using Izuku and Rei's tails as furniture. Even Kemono showed back up, standing a short distance away and appearing nervous at first—as nervous as one could appear with a dog–like face—until some slight prompting from Izuku had him doing the same, laying curled up amongst the coils of tails.

One movie turned into two, and then into three, and then suddenly it was time for Izuku to cook dinner. He got everything started as the fourth movie began.

Moving about the kitchen, preparing everything he would need, Izuku kept part of his attention on Iona. He remembered what the overview had mentioned about her experiencing anxiety around dinner time. Sure enough, even with the movie to distract her, she looked over her shoulder almost as soon as he started cooking. It was subtle at first, with just a quick glance, but as Izuku continued, she started to look more frequently, and for longer periods of time.

By the time Izuku had finished, and Ochako was leading her to the table, he saw that Iona could barely take her eyes off the door. More than that, he could even see signs that she was becoming more and more distressed as she was lifted into a chair at the table, despite Ochako attempting to calm her down.

Seeing her fidgeting hands and quickening breath had Izuku diverting some of his focus to the hallway outside the apartment, even if he knew her fear was unwarranted—not that she knew that.

When he set everyone's food out, she nearly devolved into a full panic attack—Kemono appeared next to her, nervously shuffling, like he couldn't decide whether to stay with her or go to the door—and he decided that he needed to put a stop to it.

Moving around the table, he placed himself between her and the door, all but forcing her attention onto him. For good measure, he activated 'Captivate,' ensuring that she was focused on him and not the door. Lowering himself down to her level, he looked her in the eyes, which were blown wide open and beginning to well up with tears.

"You're okay, Iona." He said, taking her hands in his. "You're safe. I promise. I won't let anything happen to you. None of us will."

She didn't visibly react, so he continued, changing tactics.

"Hey, did you know that Ochako's training to be a hero?" He asked. "She goes to Yueii to train with heroes like Present Mic and All Might."

"Yeah!" Ochako chimed in. "I'll keep you safe from the villains!"

"And I'll let you in on a little secret." He said, lowering his voice. "She's even trained with Miruko herself."

That got a reaction out of her. She jolted ever so subtly in her chair, and her breath hitched.

"S-she has?" She asked, voice wobbly.

Izuku nodded. "She sure has! Miruko taught her how to be super strong. She'll be able to keep you safe no matter what."

The mention of her favorite hero seemed to work a bit better than Izuku had expected it to. It wasn't by much, but he noticed her calm down ever so slightly. Her breathing settled just a bit, and her hands began to release from where she'd clenched them.

"Tell you what." He said. "Would you like to go to your room with Ochako, so she can help you eat and keep you safe, while Rei and I watch the door out here?"

Her face twisted, and her bottom lip began to tremble. She nodded.

"Alrighty then. Let's do that."

Reaching out, Izuku lifted Iona up into his arms, her own wrapping around his neck immediately. As he rose back up, Ochako was already standing with her and Iona's plates in her hands. She followed behind him as he carried Iona to her room. As he moved, he noticed Kemono watching him—or Iona, more accurately—before turning to face the door, apparently deciding to watch it for her.

Reaching her room, Izuku deposited Iona at the child–sized desk he and Rei had gotten for her. She had two tiny tear tracks trailing down her face. She stared up at him with her big deep–purple eyes, which looked bigger with the film of tears. As Ochako pulled a stool from a corner of the room and pulled it closer, Izuku reached a hand out and settled it on Iona's head. His other hand came up to wipe the tears from her cheeks.

"The two of you eat in here for now. Once you're done, or if you feel like it, come back out into the living room and we'll finish watching the movie, alright?"

She nodded silently, and he smiled at her.

"Don't worry." He said, ruffling her hair. "We'll keep you safe. Those bad men won't do anything to you so long as we're here."

Seeing her nod again, Izuku looked at Ochako just as she was setting the two plates down on the desk. She nodded up at him as well, and he smirked at the resolute look in her eyes.

'Stay with them please." He said. "Let me know if anything happens.'

"Will do." Tamako responded. Izuku could feel the determination radiating from them.

With a final glance and one last pat to Iona's head, Izuku turned to leave the room, returning to Rei's side at the table a few moments later.

"How is she?" Rei asked.

"Upset, but I think she'll be able to eat. Hopefully between Ochako reassuring her and the door being out of sight she'll calm down."

Already, as soon as he said that, he could see Ochako managing to coax Iona into eating a bite of food. He smirked. The two of them had bonded practically the moment they met.

Rei smiled at him. "You're really good with her you know. I was almost surprised by how well you handled that. You reminded me of myself for a second there."

Izuku huffed out a small laugh. "Yeah, you were always really good with that sort of thing."

Rei watched him for a moment, her smile softening. "You loved her the instant you saw her today, didn't you?"

He let out another small laugh. "I think it was pretty close to that actually. The moment she held up the picture of Oni and called him a hero, I just got this warm feeling in my chest, and I knew that no matter what it might be, I would do absolutely anything for her."

"She had you wrapped around her finger right from the beginning, huh?"

"You have no idea." He responded. "When you were filling out your part of the paperwork, and I was drawing with her, I came really close to activating and revealing a quirk, even though Sueno was right there next to us, simply because I thought it might amuse her. In that moment I didn't even care that I would be revealing my quirk. All that mattered was that Iona might like it."

Rei laughed. "I'm not sure if I should be amused or concerned that she already has you wrapped around her finger to such a degree."

Izuku shrugged. "For now, let's just go with amused. Though concern probably isn't unwarranted. Even thinking about the consequences of revealing my quirk, they don't compare to the thought of Iona's amusement at seeing some of the quirks I have."

He smiled at her, and shrugged again. "Who knows. For now let's just go with amused, until we have a reason not to be."

"Fair enough."

Iona was eventually able to eat, with Ochako helping her. By the time the two of them emerged from her room—Iona holding Ochako's hand—she'd calmed back down, and even sported a small smile. Izuku and Rei greeted her with a pat to her head and a hug respectively, and the four of them—five including Kemono, who left his post at the front door as soon as she left her room—returned to the living room to finish watching the movie.

Once it was over, Iona finally got a chance to unpack her belongings, assisted by both Ochako and Rei as Izuku cleaned up the dishes left by dinner. By the time they had finished, it was time for those who needed sleep to get ready for it.

Iona went first, with the rest of them waiting until they knew she was good to go before separating to get ready themselves. Though in Izuku's case he was simply going to his room to wait. He would still be going out as Oni, but he wouldn't be leaving until he knew that Iona was asleep.

He watched as Rei returned to Iona's room to sit with her until she fell asleep, following the advice of Sueno's overview. He would've been the one to do it, but Rei won the game of Rock-Paper-Scissors. Izuku smiled as he watched them together. Iona wrapped up in her blankets, and Rei leaning on the bed next to her, running a gentle hand through her hair as she drifted off.

When Rei left Iona's room and entered his, he'd already changed into Oni, dressed in his usual red and black outfit, with his appearance and visible quirks changed to match, and his mask held in his hand.

"She's asleep." Rei said, voice lowered. Then, "Not too bad for a first day."

Oni nodded. "A small hiccup or two, but aside from those, I agree. I think today went really well."